


of birthday presents and arcade games

by bookishgypsy



Series: the ridley's [4]
Category: Dynasty (TV 2017)
Genre: Charlotte Ridley, F/M, Olivia Ridley
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-05
Updated: 2020-07-05
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:35:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25090024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bookishgypsy/pseuds/bookishgypsy
Summary: Uncle Same buys Charlotte the best seventh birthday present. Chaos ensues.
Relationships: Fallon Carrington/Liam Ridley
Series: the ridley's [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1817107
Comments: 9
Kudos: 31





	of birthday presents and arcade games

**Author's Note:**

  * For [falloncridley (myyellowumbrella47)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/myyellowumbrella47/gifts).
  * Inspired by [oh darling, don’t ever grow up](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23030128) by [falloncridley (myyellowumbrella47)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/myyellowumbrella47/pseuds/falloncridley). 



> For Bruna who requested some Charlotte Ridley.

Charlotte Ridley sits off to the side of her Uncle Sam, watching on as he plays with _her_ birthday present, brunette curls bouncing in place as she shifts her weight from side to side impatiently, waiting for her turn on the illusive machine she’d just received for her birthday.

She’s anything but amused - how could her Uncle Sam buy _her_ such an awesome present for her seventh birthday but hog the machine the entire time?! Her Uncle is aggressively moving his hand against the the red analog stick, trying to escape from the colorful ghosts chasing his yellow Pac Man on the screen in front of them, hitting at the white buttons to eat up all the white dots on the screen, too, earning him more points in the process.

“It’s my turn now!”

Uncle Sam only pushes harder against the white buttons, not even turning to face the tiny brunette by his side when he speaks to her. “No, it’s not!”

“Yes, it is!” Charlotte groans, losing patience second by second. Her arms cross against her chest, not that her uncle can see her actions or anything, since he won’t even pay attention to _anything_ but that machine in front of them. “You’ve been playing forever!”

“Wait your turn, Charlie!” Sam’s focus stays zoned in on the black screen, running away from the purple ghost that had started to center in on him. “Didn’t your mom teach you anything about manners?”

“It’s _my_ present,” the seven year old with tiny little curls in her hair whines in her tiny voice, but demanding all the same, just like her mom taught her. “Uncle Sam!!!”

“Alie,” Olivia’s small voice pop ups from behind them, where she currently was settled into her high chair. Charlotte turns around to find her sister watching them in rapt attention, but hand starting to wave around above her head, a sure fire sign she was starting to get a little hungry.

Her uncle rolls his eyes back at her, without making any attempt to move away from the seat he was in. “I’m _trying_ to make get a high score here, Charlotte.”

“I don’t _care_ ,” Charlotte whines, throwing her hands on her hips just like her mom would do in times of frustration; she was always following in her mom’s footsteps, copying her exact movements and actions, wanting to be _just_ like her. “I wanna play!”

“I bought it!”

“For _me_!”

The tiny voice behind them erupts again. “Alie!”

“Your sister’s calling you,” Sam mutters tilting his head to the back, indicating the sound of the voice behind them.

Charlotte’s hands fly out wide to her side in disbelief. “You’re the babysitter!”

“Hungy!”

“She’s _hungry!_ ”

“Yeah, I can hear her, Charlie,” Sam groans, watching as his Pac Man loses his last life right before him. “You know what, fine,” Sam says, finally moving away from the seat she’d be trying to claim for over an hour now. “But only cause your parents will be back from their vacation at any moment and I’d like them to see me as at least slightly responsible,”

“ _Finally,_ ” Charlotte says, hopping up on to the tiny barstool before the Pac Man machine in front of her. “Time to show you how it’s done.”

Sam moves himself over to the fridge opening the doors in search for some food for Olivia, rummaging through the almost bare shelves inside the cooling system. “Has anyone ever told you you’re scarily like your mother?”

“Just about everyday!” Charlotte starts making strides in her game, outsmarting the ghost figures on her screen, popping out of one side and appearing from the other all while collecting the white dots sprinkled across her screen. She’s quiet, soaking in her game time and remaining focused on her task at hand, Olivia’s dinner time long forgotten behind her. But then, just as she’s getting comfortable, the blue ghost pops up from behind her, swallowing her Pac Man whole. “Nooooooooo!!”

“I guess you’re not the best, huh?”

Charlotte’s tiny laugh echos through the room. “You’re just jealous, Uncle.”

“What the hell is that?”

The two girls and Sam are so preoccupied with the game and outwitting each other, that they don’t even hear their front door open; they don’t even hear Fallon and Liam walk into the room until Fallon’s voice is ringing throughout the bright white kitchen. She’s standing there with Liam in tow, Liam who’s smirking and enjoying the sight they’d just walked into, besides Fallon who’s jaw hangs wide open.

“Mommy!!” Charlottes little feet jump off the stool, game forgotten behind her as she runs to her mother, enveloping her in a hug. “I missed you, mommy!”

“Hi, baby girl,” Fallon kneels down to meet her daughters height, squeezing her up tightly into her arms before standing up straight again. “Why is there a giant Pac Man machine in the middle of my kitchen?”

“Uncle Sam bought it for me!” Charlotte erupts in all kinds of excitement, grabbing at her mom’s hands and walking her even closer to it. “For my birthday!”

Fallon eyes Sam out of the corner of her eye, Charlotte staying close by her mom’s side. “A little bit eccentric for a birthday present, wouldn’t you say?”

“Not even a simple, ‘thank you for spoiling my daughters while I was away, Sam?’”

“Not when you start bringing these ridiculous things into my home,” Fallon mutters, Charlotte hopping back up on to her stool to resume the game she’d been in the middle of. “And why the hell is it in the middle of my kitchen?”

“Fallon, we can move the machine somewhere else. It doesn’t need to _stay_ in the kitchen,” Liam interrupts then, making his presence known once more, coming up to rest his hand against his wife’s shoulder in an effort to keep her calm. “No hug for your father, Charlotte?”

“I’m in the middle of a game, daddy.”

“We’re not moving this thing anywhere else besides the trash, Liam,” Fallon mutters at the feel of his hand against her skin.

“No!” The tiny brunette who’s focus is entirely in the arcade game before her, hears the mention of the machine leaving and suddenly spins herself back around to the rest of her family. “Mommy, no! I love it so much!”

“Charlotte,” Fallon sighs.

“We can put it in my room! Please, mommy, please!?”

“Yeah, mommy,” Liam teases. “Please?”

“Liam, do _not_ push it.”

“Well,” Sam pipes in, having remained quiet through Fallon and Liam’s homecoming. “I’m gonna go now and leave you all to…this.”

Fallon scoffs in reply to her friend. “Yeah, thanks, Sam!”

“I bet my other daughter missed me, right, Liv?” Liam heads over to Sam’s place beside Olivia, reaching his arms out to her.

“Dada!” Olivia stretches her arms out, happily accept the way her dad swings her up into his arms. She snuggles her head into his neck, making her tiny body comfortable against his warmth.

Charlotte looks over at her mom again, with those wide-doe eyes that seemingly no one could say no to. “Mommy, do you want to play?!”

“Ew, no,” Fallon squeaks out before noticing the glare she receives from her husband, most likely indicating that her tone was anything but child friendly. “No, no thank you, Charlie. mommy doesn’t like that game.”

“How can no one like this game?” Charlotte’s small inquisitive tone is heard amongst the sound of her pushing against the gaming console. “Mommy, it’s so fun!”

“It’s too big, Charlotte,” Fallon says, running her fingers through Charlotte’s curls. “We’re not keeping this.”

“Fal, we’ll just move it to the game room and it’ll be fine,” Liam tries reasoning. “You _know_ you like that game room.”

Charlotte’s tiny gasp is heard from her stool. “Yeah, mommy! We can just put it in the game room! Great idea, daddy!”

“Thanks, Liam. Truly,” Fallon says through clenched teeth, doing her best to keep her glare away from the daughter so happy with her birthday present. “You’re always such a _great_ help.”

“She likes it, Fallon,” Liam sighs. “There’s no reason to get rid of it if it’s gonna make her happy.”

“We’ll discuss it in the morning.”

Liam just shakes his head at her reply, moving his focus to the little person still curled in his arms. “Did you two eat dinner?”

Charlotte answers first, naturally. “Of course, daddy!”

“No,” Olivia’s tiny head pops up from Liam’s shoulder. “Hungy.”

“Alright, why don’t we get you some dinner,” Liam places Olivia back in her high chair, off in a search to whip her up a meal that she could enjoy. “Fallon, we’ll talk about the game after.”

“It’s going in the trash.”

* * *

It’s later that night when Charlotte finds her eyes opening up against the darkness surrounding her. She rolls over in her bed to see that the digital clock in her room indicates that it’s 1:27am in bright red lights, suddenly feeling extremely thirsty in the early hours of that Sunday morning. So, she swings her tiny feet over her bed before landing against the flat ground below her, tip-toeing down the stairs to not wake up any another members of her family at the unusual hour.

When she rounds the corner to the kitchen, she’s surprised to find the lights all still on. It’s not unusual to find her mom up late working or anything, it was actually quite common, but she’d been gone a full week with dad so she couldn’t possibly have any work to catch up on or anything.

She’s quiet on her feet when she takes her final stride to that brightly lit room, surprised at what she finds before her. Because what she walks in to is her mom, sitting on that very bar stool behind the Pac Man machine with her hand on the red analog stick, fingers tirelessly working against those white buttons.

“I knew it! I knew you liked Pac Man!”


End file.
